I had my third facial laser treatment two days ago.

I'm still catching a whiff of the burning hair smell from time to time. Is it possible that my face still smells? Or is it some post-traumatic thing?

Has anyone else come across this?

I've had similar happen on my first few sessions until the hair either grew or fell out.  Since you are heating the hair and in some cases it will burn, then it's possible that lovely chared scent will stick around until the treated hair grows out.

What a coincidence. Laser was a topic of conversation during last nights TG meeting. One member stated that even after her 6th session she can still catch a wiff of burning hair.

I know exactly what you mean. Lol! It's kinda like when a dog poops in the house. Even after you clean it up you still find yourself sniffing around looking for another pile.

It's just one of those smells that you never forget and it tends to stick in your olfactory sensors for a few days.

Quote from: The Original Cami on February 10, 2013, 08:53:34 AM
I know exactly what you mean. Lol! It's kinda like when a dog poops in the house. Even after you clean it up you still find yourself sniffing around looking for another pile.

It's just one of those smells that you never forget and it tends to stick in your olfactory sensors for a few days.

*1

the odour of burned hair never really bothered me to be honest, nor the pain either, except when it was my top lip, that brought tears to my eyes with every blast of light, it was the swelling that bothered me, half way through my first treatment they had to get a nurse in, they thought my face was going to fall off and I thought I'd end up looking kind of like Harvey Two-Face  from Batman!  Luckily though the swelling went down and the rest of the treatments weren't that bad, but there's a lot of stubborn white hair left and a few darker ones on my chin and neck and I can't afford electrolysis right now what with the current government determined to end all trans friendly services and take all the money off everyone who isn't a multi-millionaire

The smell doesn't shock m at all, so I doubt I'd be "traumatized", but I still smell it again occasionally for a while after a laser treatment. I think it's because there's burnt material still trapped into the skin, and when it surfaces, it smells a little. When I do my bad habit of removing burnt hairs, it smells a bit, sometimes, when I remove one. So yeah. You're not hallucinating.

I just had my third session on wednesday and the smell was really strong, but I noticed it was gone yesterday.

Agree that it seems to linger in the nose or something. I don't really mind.

What I DO mind right now though is that I've got a group of about 5-6 ingrows all in one little pack that have caused some swelling just beneath my chin. I am probably going to call the dr tomorrow to see if it's actually an infection- it is painful and my jaw looks a little lopsided. Like a gigantic zit under the skin. My guess is it's because I told him to turn it up as much as he wanted to.. and apparently he did, the skin is having some issues coping this time

Just want it to be cleeearrr... All the info online doesn't kid around saying that facial hair removal is the roughest part of transitioning.

Anyone else ever have any localized swelling occur 3-4 days after a laser session?

Are you shaving really close before Laser?

When I was having it, if my tech didn't feel I had shaved close enough she would shave before zapping

Jennygirl: I have the exact same as you, under my chin. Though this time (I had a session last Wednesday) it's not really bad, I've had it. It's probably a mix of how the skin was burned and damaged, and/or how some hairs were either:

-already ingrown and because of that, burned the skin much more (covering a larger area) and causing it to swell to repair itself
-partially destroyed, giving them a weird shape and causing an ingrown
-destroyed, but stuck beneath the skin, starting a little infection

But rest assured, it's definitely not so bad.

-If it's just a bad burn, apply a soothing gel. My laser clinic sells this awesome (but expensive - almost 50 $ for 100 mL) "BIO post treatment balm" which is slightly moisturizing and also has a slight antibacterial effect. I think it's really great, and if it were cheaper, I would actually use it daily, all the time. But any good aloe vera gel without bad ingredients (alcohol or menthol, for example) will do.

-Try to kill the bacteria, assuming it's infected, by applying a benzoyle peroxide product to the area once or twice a day. If it's just swelling, no worries. The disinfectant, which is not irritating, shouldn't make it any worse.

-If it's really stubborn and you're sure it's more of an infected ingrown, not swelling from a burn, after a while (preferably wait two weeks), exfoliate the area intensely, and use the benzoyle peroxide afterwards. After a while, the pimple will come to the right stage and you'll be able to pop it. Then if the hairs are easy to reach with tweezers, gently pull them out, not plucking them but putting them back to grow where they should, and cut them. You could pluck them, but that would make them immune to your next laser session. This is a delicate procedure, so an aesthetician might be a good idea if you want to avoid scarring.

A- Thank you thank you for your response. It's a relief to hear I am not alone. I have been freaking out a little bit looking at myself in the mirror and seeing my chin bumped out to one side.. bleh.

Still, I don't think many people notice... but I have caught a few people looking down at the chin

Today I decided to see a dermatologist (because my friggin laser / general med MD doesn't work Mondays!!). I didn't want to wait any longer because the area around the chin and even under my neck were starting to swell as if it was an infection and spreading. I woke up at 5am and have been reading about staph infections ever since. On top of everything I am coming down with pretty intense sinusitis. Today has been rough! Haha..

So anyway the dermatologist took one look at it and said yep you have a little infection there. He shot it up a few times with some cortisone and "lanced" it draining some of the pus out. I think he could have gotten a lot more out, 'cause it is still looking about the same to me now- but the pain has subsided somewhat (it got a lot worse after my last post, I woke up at 5am and almost the whole left side of my face was sore).

He also put me on a 6 day round of oral antibiotics to help fight the infection. Not stoked at all about having to take antibiotics, I have been building up my immune system for almost a year without them. Thankfully though, I am already feeling some relief after taking it 3-4 hours ago, but it could also just be placebo effect because I have received treatment. I rrreaaaallly cannot wait for this sucker to go down. Not fun. I feel disgusting and deformed.

Going in to the dermatologist in girl mode was fun though. I know from certain angles or enough distance away that I pass now, and I was super happy with my outfit too. Also it was fun when the nurse asked what medications I was on, and I told her estrogen and progesterone... She smiled and nodded, looking at me approvingly through the corner of her eye as she left the room. Then the doc was very soft spoken, incredibly gentle and treated me like a lady So, not all bad!

I will update when I notice some changes in the topology of my mountainous chin... Hopefully sooner than later!!

I don't think it's so worrisome or that it was necessary to go to the dermatologist, but it can't hurt, certainly. After all, sometimes, a pimple can actually reach a stage where professional is needed.

Anyway, if you want it gone faster or if some residual smaller thing remains after the treatment or something, definitely try out a benzoyle peroxide product. It's the one best thing to apply topically to skin infections, be they caused by acne, ingrowns or something else. You'll be fighting the problem in two ways then.

Also, if you pop it, eventually, and you empty it, completely or not, it's important to apply some benzoyle peroxide product once you're done emptying it. By popping it, you open the door again. Make sure you use it for more effective disinfection, not leave it for the infection to be revived. Generally, that starts a process. You'll be more actively fighting the bacteria, which will accelerate the development of things, and "juice" will form again after a few hours, maybe. Then you'll go with a tissue, re-empty it and re-apply the product. After one or two times of this, leaving it for the day/night will allow you to perform maybe just one last treatment, and gone it will be, and off to the healing process.

And if it happens again, make sure you try the peroxide product first. It does miracles, sometimes. Those huge pimples deep in the skin, on my inner thighs, can be taken care of this way, even if it takes longer. It doesn't deal with the mysterious underlying cause that keeps spawning them in the area, but it takes care of the infection once it breaks out.

Oh yeah, one last thing. I'm not an expert in make-up, but I think I've figured something out. We shouldn't try to camouflage a pimple's texture with make-up. The colour is fine (though not preferable because you put even more stuff that'll block the port), but don't try to hide the bump. You'll need a ton of make-up to manage something, and even then, it will probably be quite gross to look at. Every time a girl has tried to camouflage a bump in their face, I've noticed it and found it "ew". Like the bump is still there, but doesn't look like a pimple anymore; rather like a caky deformation fused on the face. Possibly worse. Unless they were all doing it wrong, I think it's not a good idea to try this.

I guess the fact that I was getting a sore throat n stuff made it a bit more worrisome for me, like the infection had spread past that first lymphnode. The dermo assured me I was just getting sick on top of it. Boooo, but yaaay at the same time.

But I am glad I went in, the swelling was g-n-a-r-l-y trust me. The amount of area and displacement was unlike any folliculitis I have ever seen on anyone. The infection was halfway down my jawline and halfway up to my lower lip- the only time I've ever been that swollen/deformed was when I had dry socket from getting wisdom teeth taken out. Also it actually hurt to frown (luckily I don't frown that often ).

I am going to take your suggestion and pick up some benzoyl peroxide cream tomorrow along w/ some other things I need to get. Fun things like hair clips and some accessories. I'm still flushing out my collection of toiletries and stuff. Currently my makeup stash is actually looking really nice and I took time today organizing it.

So the swelling has already subsided greatly. I mean by a lot- I am barely asymmetrical anymore. Amazing the difference between now and just 24 hrs ago. Once again, glad I went to the dermo. If I hadn't, I'm absolutely positive I'd still be sitting here in pain with a huge boil stuck under the skin on my face throbbing away No thank yoU!

The biggest reason why I wanted to get it the heck out of that area is because my trach shave with dr O is scheduled for the 20th. I've been looking forward to that like crazy- a delay would be a bummer. Doubly so since I've already turned down some jobs for that week that I'll be in SF.

Also wanted to add one more thing..

Through this experience I have learned the amazingness of coconut oil as a moisturizer, eye makeup remover, healer, and overall new best friend for the skins.

I'm never buying chemical based makeup remover again. Using coconut oil to remove eye makeup just two days in a row not only cleared up a stye but it shrunk the pores underneath my eyes almost overnight.

Another good one for removing face makeup is honey, but I haven't tried it yet.

Check em out! It's all over the web

Uhm, coconut oil is... oil. Definitely not a cleaner. I can't imagine it being very effective or removing excess oil. Continue washing your face with this and I believe you'll end up having issues, because it doesn't clean.

Honey being mostly sugar (fructose) and water, well... I don't see how it could do better than rubbing with water.

water will dry out your skin!

It's true that it's an oil, but a special kind that dissolves deep into the skin. Many have used it to clear up acne, blemishes, and heal the skin. Also it's great for your hair.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/27/coconut-oil-benefits_n_1625631.html

http://www.laurelofleaves.com/2012/03/the-best-natural-make-up-remover/

Apparently one of my roommates has been using it for years, and her skin is flawless

Oh, okay. You don't use it as a cleanser, but as something to dissolve the make-up. Phew. Yeah, I guess it makes sense then, as long as you don't actually have excess oil or bacteria problems.

Sorry to totally derail this topic but I think it's worth clarifying for the sake of everyone reading!

I haven't been using the coconut oil just as a cleanser at all! In fact I've been using a lot of it before I go to bed, and it seems to be helping. CO actually has a bunch of excellent properties... antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral.

I'm definitely going to keep using it, watching closely, and seeing how things go. Skin is still getting smoother and clearer, but most noticeably the slight crows feet around my eyes have reduced in depth. Yay!! I've been applying a liberal amount of CO after my regular moisturizer, i.e. when I go to bed my face is shiny. When I wake up, my skin looks golden!

In other news, the swelling from the folliculitis is down to zilch after just a few days. All signs of the infection are gone. I'm not deformed anymore!! I'm also fairly certain that if I wouldn't have seen the dermo I might still be fighting it because it was just getting worse and worse. I've also been eating barely any sugar the past week and taking a probiotic (spaced after the antibiotic by 3-4 hours) to counteract as much negative effect from the antibiotics as possible.

I dunno if it's the coconut oil, the antibiotics, or the hrt, but my complexion has taken a turn for the better and I couldn't be more stoked about it Don't be afraid of coconut oil, it's special!